A Sound Engineer, a Props Guy and Their ‘Beautiful’ Wedding

John Bryant and Jessica Weeks share an embrace and their first kiss as husband and wife at the Stephen Sondheim Theater in Manhattan.Credit...An Rong Xu for The New York Times

By Jane Gordon Julien

March 24, 2017

Jessica Weeks started early in the spotlight, belting out Broadway show tunes and playing the piano and flute onstage in elementary school. But one day in high school — because she didn’t dance and didn’t want to, and because she thought she had a better shot at stardom from the shadows — she walked away from performing.

She donned the uniform of the backstage crew: black T-shirt, jeans and closed-toe black shoes. She rolled her long locks into a hair clip, and left any makeup behind, too. “It would just melt off me,” she said.

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The bride shares an embrace with her brother, Stephen Weeks, before the wedding ceremony. The bride and groom met while working on the Off Broadway revival of “Rent.”Credit...An Rong Xu for The New York Times

Ms. Weeks, 29, set her sights on sound. But on March 1, she stepped out of the shadows and back into the spotlight to be married on the Broadway stage of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.”

Her path to that day was paved by a chance meeting in 2011 at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta. She met a man who would become something of a Broadway mentor: Brian Ronan, at that time the sound designer for “The Book of Mormon.”

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They had planned to get married at City Hall, when a coworker told Ms. Weeks that she was an ordained minister and suggested that the couple get married onstage instead.Credit...An Rong Xu for The New York Times

“She was so sharp,” Mr. Ronan said, “and she brought such passion to the work. I said, ‘Hey, do you want to move to New York next week?’ And because of who she is, she dropped her life and did.”

Ms. Weeks went to work as a sound engineer on the Off Broadway revival of “Rent.” She struggled at first. (Women working in professional audio make up just 5 percent of the profession, according to SoundGirls.org, a nonprofit organization.) Despite being doggedly determined to succeed on her own, she was broke and, initially, friendless. New York’s clamor and crowds cowed her.

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Wedding guests give the couple a standing ovation.Credit...An Rong Xu for The New York Times

But she quickly made friends. Those included John Bryant, a props person for “Rent.” Mr. Bryant had spent most of his childhood in small Texas towns. “I am not a city person,” he said. He was a theater person, though. He performed both in the spotlight and backstage at Tarleton College in Stephenville, Tex. Afterward, he worked as a props apprentice, then toured with Broadway shows.

Friends say he is kindhearted and creative, a man who is handy at electrical work, plumbing and carpentry, and who revels in his hot pink KitchenAid mixer, the better to make Bobby Flay’s “Throwdown” chocolate chip cookies and mint Oreo ice cream.

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Before popping the question with a real ring, Mr. Bryant would regularly present Ms. Weeks with drugstore ring pops. “Those ring pops are hard to find,” he said.Credit...An Rong Xu for The New York Times

Ms. Weeks developed a small crush on him. But he was married. So she kept her crush to herself.

Ms. Weeks eventually moved to “The Book of Mormon,” including the tour. Back on Broadway, she juggled work as a substitute at “If/Then,” “Last Ship” and “Beautiful,” before landing full time at “Beautiful.”

Ambitious and independent, “she will never let down the people she loves,” her friend Meghan Abel said. “And she loves fiercely.”

Ms. Weeks was also becoming sought after for her sound skills. “She is an amazing mixer,” said Todd Piskin, the associate company manager for “Beautiful. “We need the sound sublime.”

Work was going well. Marriage was not on her mind.

Alternately, Mr. Bryant, 34, was struggling with his. He moved to Philadelphia to try to save it, but he separated from his wife in January 2015, and divorced later that year. “I found myself thinking,” he said, “about what I was expecting and needed in life, and how to express those feelings.”

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The mother of the bride, Elaine Weeks, with one of the wedding balloons after the wedding reception.Credit...An Rong Xu for The New York Times

After some months, in spring 2015, Mr. Bryant interviewed for a props position for the “Beautiful” tour. He then dropped by to say hello to the Broadway crew. Ms. Weeks was there, still crushing.

They went out for drinks, began to text frequently and started dating long distance. When Mr. Bryant came down with a cold on the tour, Ms. Weeks sent him a care package of honey, tea, whiskey, a coffee cup, cough drops and a get-well card. “I learned then that our connection was strong and that she would do anything for me,” he said.

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Cupcakes by Amy’s Bread and Stage Door Cakes were on display at the reception.Credit...An Rong Xu for The New York Times

Mr. Bryant was in Chicago for the national tour of “Beautiful” when Ms. Weeks was assigned to a temporary position there. They went out to dinner one night, while Ms. Weeks had a sinus infection. As soon as they sat down, and unbeknown to Mr. Bryant, her nose began to gush blood. She disappeared for several minutes to the restroom. Then she sprinted to the table, grabbed her purse and dashed out, leaving with no explanation.

Once Mr. Bryant reached her room, she held out her hand. In it was the spare key to her apartment in New York. “When you want to come home,” she said, “here’s the key.” It was a big step for the independent Ms. Weeks. A selfie Mr. Bryant took that evening shows him triumphantly holding the key. In another photograph, Ms. Weeks is sitting on the toilet lid, paper towels plastering her nose. “That’s when we knew we loved each other,” Ms. Weeks said.

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Abby Mueller, left, and Mr. Bryant talking during the wedding reception.Credit...An Rong Xu for The New York Times

They moved in together in Sunnyside, Queens, in summer 2016. Banter about marriage began soon after. Mr. Bryant began combing drugstore aisles for ring pops to regularly present to Ms. Weeks. “Those ring pops are hard to find,” he said.

But both were serious, and they soon realized they were willing to make an investment more lasting than a ring pop.

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The couple after the ceremony. Mr. Bryant once came down with a cold while on tour, and Ms. Weeks sent him a care package of honey, tea, whiskey, a coffee cup, cough drops and a get-well card. “I learned then that our connection was strong and that she would do anything for me,” he said.Credit...An Rong Xu for The New York Times

“I think that after losing my dad in 2014,” Ms. Weeks said, “I realized if you have success in work and don’t have anyone to come home to or share in those experiences, then really what is it all about?” She quoted a line from the song “Another Day” in “Rent”: “Forget regret or life is yours to miss.”

Mr. Bryant lost his mother to breast cancer when he was 18. “I could talk to my mother about everything,” he said. “Jessica and I share something like that.”

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The couple deciding what to eat at their wedding dinner with family at Gato in NoHo.Credit...An Rong Xu for The New York Times

Mr. Bryant decided the time for candy rings was over, sort of. On Dec. 9, 2016, he boxed up one last ring pop, but also put a true engagement ring in his pocket. Ms. Weeks was on the sofa, sick with a cold. She pulled the ring pop from the box and said, “What do you want me to do with this?” Mr. Bryant took out the real ring, along with his phone, on which he had written a romantic proposal. But, alas, his phone had died. He improvised, with a simple, “Will you marry me?”

Ms. Weeks burst into tears, managing to cough out a yes.

They planned to get married at City Hall. Then Jocelyn Smith, an electrician for “Beautiful,” told Ms. Weeks that she was an ordained minister with the online Church of Spiritual Humanism. Why not get married onstage at the theater?

A notice went up on the company bulletin board. “When they announced it, we were so excited,” said Jake Epstein, the actor who played Carole King’s husband, Gerry Goffin, at the time. Chilina Kennedy, who played Ms. King, chimed in, “We’re very much a family here.”

A hairstylist offered to do Ms. Weeks’s hair and makeup, then worked in tandem with a sound engineer to photograph the event. Ms. Kennedy’s dresser hemmed the wedding gown. A member of the cast and his wife (an actress who has a baking business on the side called stagedoorcakes.com) stayed up until 4 that morning to bake cupcakes. An assistant stage manager coordinated the onstage action. Ms. Abel, a stagehand at other Broadway shows, decorated the lobby.

On March 1, immediately after the Wednesday matinee, the cast and crew of “Beautiful,” family and friends filled about 60 orchestra seats in front of the stage, buzzing with excitement. Mr. Bryant waited in a suit and tie onstage, having just arrived from work on “Dear Evan Hansen.”

On the arm of her brother, Stephen Weeks, Ms. Weeks stepped out of the shadows onto the stage in a champagne gown, and in full makeup (complete with the odd sensation, at least for her, of false eyelashes) and curls cascading down her neck.

Clapping and howling their approval, the cast and crew rose to their feet. They were all in — for a love spawned in the theater and a real wedding on their very own stage. “This is the best company on Broadway,” Ms. Smith said, beaming.

The couple glowed in the spotlight. Nothing melted. A few hearts, maybe.

ON THIS DAY

When March 1, 2017

Where Stephen Sondheim Theater in New York

The Union When it came time to figure out the music for her wedding, her “bridezilla moment,” Ms. Weeks said, union rules forbade her from using the theater’s sound system or even plugging a cord into an electrical outlet. A friend found a Bluetooth speaker and hooked it up. “There’s nothing more awkward than a bunch of people sitting or standing around without any background music,” she said. The wedding playlist: Bruno Mars, the Avett Brothers, Lady Gaga, Sting and, as a nod to her deceased father, Elvis Presley and Queen.

Written Word The songwriting duo Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil in “Beautiful” repeat to one another a particular line that pays tribute to their success at work and at home. Ms. Weeks had Mr. Bryant’s wedding ring engraved with the same words: “We’re good in all the rooms.”